IBGerm

NEW YORK – It is a common fear among users of Facebook and other social media around the world — how to deal with a friend request from your boss or employee.

A survey released on Thursday found that 56 percent of Americans say it is irresponsible to be friends with a boss and 62 percent say it is wrong to be friends with an employee.But 76 percent believe it is acceptable to be friends with a workplace peer, according to the survey of 1,000 people by Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project. "When the roles change what do you do then? Do you unfriend someone if they have now been promoted to be your boss or if you’re now their boss," said researcher Kelly Holland.

"We get into some really sticky situations there in terms of what people will think is responsible," she said.

When using social media at work, 73 percent say it is not appropriate to update your Facebook status, 82 percent say you should not upload photos, 72 percent believe tweeting is wrong and 79 percent say it is not acceptable to watch online videos.

Yet 66 percent say it is fine to check your personal email while at work.

"When people focus on responsibility, they know what the responsible thing is to do but whether they are doing that in practice or not is a different story," said Holland.

Americans are split on whether companies should review the social media profiles of job candidates with 52 percent saying it is appropriate and 48 percent saying it is unacceptable.

Social media can also lead to some difficult decisions when it comes to family and relationships. Sixty percent of those polled say that it is "completely acceptable" to unfriend an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend.

More than 40 percent of parents believe it is irresponsible to post photos of children online. Thirty one percent monitor their children’s Facebook accounts and almost 70 percent are friends with their children on Facebook or MySpace. But 72 percent limit the time their children spend on social media networks.

More than 80 percent of parents say that teachers should not interact with students online, but they are split when it comes to whether social media should be used as evidence to punish students’ behavior.

"The social media arena is incredibly complex in terms of responsibility," Holland said.

But despite the murkiness of social media responsibility, there is one area that nearly three-quarters of Americans agree on — they think it is "egotistical and a waste of time" to develop a Facebook page for a pet.

Ok, here is my rant for the day. It has been simmering since the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  I’ve got no issue with Polo Ralph Lauren providing the hats, jackets, uniforms etc. In fact, I love it. We’re simply the best, the best dressed, the best in the sports etc.. USA USA USA. Ok, my beef is this. Did anyone else catch the team hats they hadon. I think they were kind simply silly, beacons of days gone by, like skiing in the Sierra Nevada’s in the 80’s, everyone with those silly knit hats with whimsical designs, oh I digress. My issue is with the US Flag Patch. I don’t know if it was a patch, or part of the hat itself, woven into it? The flag was so incorrect. In my opinion, this makes us look like chumps, we cant even get our flag right? This was the highest watched event in a long time, and here we’re wearing our flag wrong. Take a look at the picture, the flag has how many star? Ok people, let’s get out our American history books, how many starts are on the blue background, if you said 14, then you work in for Ralph Lauren, if you said 50 then you’re correct.

This just isn’t right, let’s break it down.

Part one, If this was just part of the hat and part of the design, well it just broke the Flag code put forth by this country…

The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration; Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations.

More specially, According to the Flag Code, a flag is anything "by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag."

The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

Source: Flag Code, Section 3

Therefore, a flag includes any representation of it of any substance, with stars and stripes of any number. This would include T-shirts and ties.

The Flag Code states that the flag should never be worn. (Section 8d): "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel."

So, if I’ve read this correctly, a flag really shouldn’t be used in part of a design in clothing at all.

Part two, if this was a flag patch, well then that is just really wrong. Source: Flag Code, Section 1

The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars [Note that sec. 2 which follows provides for additional stars. Today the flag has fifty stars representing the fifty states — Webmaster], white in a blue field

If you want to read the whole flag code, I recommend, http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm (special thank you, great site with a wealth of knowledge)

2010 Schedule

Printable schedule All games will be broadcast live on KZMP 1540 AM (Spanish).

Dates and times are subject to change. All times Central (CT).

Today, Illinois-based Incredible Technologies announced that its popular Golden Tee Golf game found in more than 10,000 bars worldwide, will soon be integrated with Facebook .

The games already present players with the option to upload 720p screencasts of their "Great Shots" directly to YouTube. When the player makes an unusually difficult shot such as a hole in one, it can be posted to YouTube and be live within five minutes. Incredible Technologies says that more than 70,000 of these videos have been posted in the year the feature has been live.

"Since 80% of Golden Tee players are also Facebook users, IT sees opportunity in developing programs that interface with Facebook," the company said today.

So if you have the type of friends who spend hours slamming the Golden Tee trackball in sports bars on the weekends, look forward to seeing plenty of status updates about it. Oh joy!!!!!

In the world of Apple, being a Netbook is a bad, bad thing. During Apple’s keynote for the newly-announced iPad, the Netbook was called out by Steve Jobs, who said "they’re not better at laptops than anything, they’re just cheaper." The affordable, tiny and yes, often barebones Atom processor-running device we’ve come to know and love, or hate, as the Netbook is often clunky and frequently disappointing, true enough. On the other hand, the Apple iPad was promised to be a better solution for those in the market for a Netbook.

While the iPad might win out on some particular functions–video playback quality, in particular–the truth is there are a great many things Netbooks can do that an iPad just can’t. Right now, at least. And while that may not make a Netbook better than a laptop, in some instances a Netbook certainly seems better than an iPad.

• Video chat. Most Netbooks, even low-end ones, now have webcams enabling basic video chat over Skype or any other program. The iPad, however, does not. We wish the iPad had a camera and iChat, especially since it would make the tablet a unique communications device to rival the iPhone. Perhaps cost was a factor, even though most Netbooks manage the feat in a package under $500.
• Run Flash. While Steve Jobs called the iPad "the best web experience you’ve ever had," there is a big missing piece right now, and that’s the whole web. Browser-based apps and Flash-driven content are a huge element of cloud computing and of many websites, and right now it’s not even clear whether the iPad can even run Hulu or Netflix. Atom Netbooks can be slow and stuttery when playing web video, but at least they can.
• Programming. Most people aren’t programmers, or anything close to it, but most Netbooks do run on a full Windows 7 OS that can be used for programming or modification. For the friendly hackers out there, that’s a dealbreaker on the iPad.
• Upload photos from a camera. No USB ports on the iPad mean no connecting cameras or other peripherals, which can be a drag if the iPad is meant as a portable computing replacement for bloggers. Netbooks have at least 2 USB ports standard.
• Store more than 64GB of data. We expected a little more memory on the iPad. Even the most basic Netbook has a 160GB hard drive. Cloud storage can assist with data, but it’s still no replacement for onboard capacity.
• Play Facebook games. Without the aforementioned Flash, browser games aren’t really possible on the iPad. Those looking to play Farmville will have to wait for the App or just flock to a Netbook.
• Swapping batteries. Sure, the iPad is slim, attractive and very showy. But its battery is fixed, while a Netbook can not only swap its battery, but upgrade from a three to a six-cell or more.
• Install CD media (or any media other than from an App Store) With the addition of a simple USB DVD/CD-ROM drive, disc-based software can be installed on a Netbook even without an optical drive built in. Netbooks can also install files off USB drives, or via any other input method. The iPad wasn’t designed with this flexibility in mind, but it’s still nice to be able to do.
• Type on your lap. Yes, the iPad has a virtual keyboard, and even a cool keyboard dock that turns the tablet into a quasi-desktop device. But the dock can’t be used for lap typing, and the Apple demos didn’t make iPad typing seem as comfortable as pounding away on an old-fashioned hinged Netbook. For long-term writing on the go, a physical Netbook keyboard with an attached angled screen still wins.
• Upgrade. Netbooks can upgrade their RAM–albeit slightly–and with a little effort that hard drive can be swapped too. The iPad is a fixed entity, so there’s no going back once you’ve picked 16, 32 or 64GB.

CanYouSeeMe.org’s open port check tool is a simple but useful web-based utility for figuring out if your ISP or firewall is blocking certain ports you need to get things done on your computer. It’s a handy way to determine if connection issues you’re having—like difficulty sending email or trouble accessing an instant messaging client—are a problem with your internet connection or the computer itself.

CanYouSeeMe.org

The pared down webapp is useful for running a quick check to see if a port you need is open. For a more robust look at your accessible ports, check out  MyPorts to get detailed information on any open port, including its state, remote IP address, and app that’s currently using it.

MyPorts is a free download, Windows only.

MyPorts [via gHacks]

Pennsylvania: College students John Wagner and Leslie Pope have been arrested and charged with theft after they declined to pay a mandatory gratuity to the Lehigh Pub after they were given poor service.

The pair had to go to the bar for drink refills, get their own cutlery and napk ins, and wait an hour for the pub to serve their wings and salad. The menu states that an 18 percent gratuity is mandatory for parties over six.

"You can’t give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip," said Pope, who conceded in answer to a media question that if it happened again he’s "probably gonna pay the tip anyway."

A pub owner in the U.K. has been fined £8,000 (about $13,183) because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over its open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud. 

Graham Cove told CNET sister site ZDNet UK on Friday he believes the case to be the first of its kind in the U.K. However, he would not identify the pub concerned, because its owner–a pub that is a client of The Cloud’s–had not yet given their permission for the case to be publicized.

Cove would say only that the fine had been levied in a civil case, brought about by a rights holder, "sometime this summer." The Cloud’s pubco clients include Fullers, Greene King, Marsdens, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchell & Butlers, and Punch Taverns.

The law surrounding open Wi-Fi networks and the liability of those running them is a grey area…